low sweat m&p salt bar questions?

[curlycoat2]

Hi,

I have read and reread all your fantastic salt bar recipes and I have had a try with some of the new low sweat m&p base. I really want to make these they sound so fantastic and yes I do have some eczema issues so these may be just the thing!

I have a couple of questions and I am hoping that someone may be able to help me. I have been looking at the fantastic photos of the salt bars and I had a bit of trouble seeing how dense the salt content is. (monitor probably could do with a dust! ) Are cp salt bars really dense with salt? and is there any shine to them?

Also, I read that some of the previous m&p salt bars went gooey over a period of time. Do you think that is because of the "sweating" that m&p does?? This is why I thought I would have a try at the low sweat base to see if it would not attract as much water to the salt in the bar and hopefully last longer before it does go gooey.

And lastly, I tried the same weight of the base as salt ie 2oz base with 2oz salt - it stayed together (didnt crumble) and was really hard to cut (so it sounds similar to the cp bar) and I had another try with 2oz base and 1oz salt to see if that would work also. The second bar is more shiny which prompted me to wonder if the cp bars are shiny at all - it too is hard to cut though and has no crumbling.

I have fragranced them but havent added colour at this stage as I wanted to get the basic bar right before I had too many variables! So far it is just the low sweat m&p, salt and tidal wave FO.

What do you think - could this work for a m&p salt bar and can anyone let me know if they think I can do something better for the next try? I am quite interested in learning how to make an m&p salt bar.

Thanks for the recipes and advice that I have read in the last 2 weeks, I have learnt such a lot and you are all very generous to help each other.

Jo

Australia

[curlycoat2]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update on my attempt last month to make a low sweat m&p bar from the low sweat base available from Brambleberry.

Its a month later and I am pleased to report that I still have the second bar I made 2oz m&p to 1oz salt with no sweating. Its been sitting in a tupperware container in the bathroom and has had no sweating. It still is hard, shiny and minimal lather when it is used.

Is this what I should be expecting - shiny and minimal lather? If someone could let me know that would be great.

Thanks

Jo

Australia

[jbren]

Hi Jo, glad you found success with MP salt bars. I did not have the same experience.

I have been making them CP now since early 2005. I use 75-80% salt to oils ratio in mine. I found that equal amount of salt to oils was not producing a nice bar.

They contain a large percentage of coconut oil, but the salt does cut down the bubbles, but the lather is dense and creamy, more like a lotion. I don't know what kind of MP you are using and it's difficult to know how much CO it contains.

After the first use, the bars do get shiny and smooth like glass. I think the biggest misconception is that they should be exfoliating...they really aren't, but the salt does help to slough off any dead skin.

[curlycoat2]

Hi and thanks so much for your description of the salt bars! You are very kind to answer the questions. I am using the low sweat (cp like)Coconut melt and pour base from Brambleberry (at least that is the description from the Australian supplier.

I realise that this wont be the same as a cp bar but, I have found that the issue of "sweating" has been reduced by this low sweat base so far.

Its great to know that it is meant to be shiny and not a rough exfoliating feel. The way I would describe it is a "polisher" feels great on my feet too!

Thanks again for taking the time to answer, I will play with colours now I know a bit more about the bars and see what I get!

Jo

Australia